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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  11. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. Did you ________________ the button?
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. rule — to rule out
  2. mine — for digging
  3. tear — from crying
  4. row — a line
  5. land — to come down
  6. rule — a law
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. court — of law
  10. press — a publisher
  11. present — there
  12. land — ground
  13. court — for sport
  14. press — to push
  15. tear — from crying
  16. rule — government
  17. tear — to rip
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. press — newspapers
  20. court — of a king
  21. present — a gift
  22. present — the time now
  23. row — to paddle
  24. land — a country

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com